Just for you buddy! Pictures of my rusty bondo bucket. The first one was taken Thursday. The last one is todays. I'm on it man! It won't be a bucket for long!
Oh yea of little faith! Fear not for the magic shall be performed before your very eyes! There was a time, in days of yore, before my mariner days on the big blue pond, that I performed such miracles on a daily basis. This one is only a minor miracle!
Im ready cut my quater panels off just as you did, but how do I know the right place to start? Most stuff this stuff I can gaze at for a moment and figure out, but these quater panels I have no clue and dont wanna go guessing. I do need to get them off just as you did to get those wheel wells out. Got most of the trunk section out today and cleaning up the rear left frame rail to decide how much of it is salvagable.
I've started to wire wheel along where the quater panel and roof meet to see how they are attached, and it looks like some kind of aluminum in the seems. Is that some kind of "bondo" from the factory?
What you are getting into is factory lead. Yes that would be considered factory bondo. The right way to do a full quarter is to melt all of the lead out, cut the spot welds that are behind there. I don't do it that way and never have. I lap weld it between the quarter window and the corner of the trunk. You can see in the picture. I weld it on the red line that I have marked below the lead joint. The reason for this is that getting into that lead joint is a lot of trouble and is not really necessary unless you are doing a concours restoration.
Here are some other pics to show you how to break it loose. First just cut the bulk of the sheet metal off so you can see what you need to start trimming. Here is a pic of the front edge and the quarter to rocker trim job. Any place that the quarter is attached to heavier metal like these it is easy. I grind the edges so all i have is a flat piece that is spot welded and you can break that off carefully with an air chissle or even a hammer and screw driver. I did both of these with a hammer and screw driver.
Any place that you are breaking spot welds that are sheetmetal to sheetmetal you need to drill the welds or you will mess up the peice you are trying to save. That would be like the corner of the trunk and the tail light panel.
hey 65t5ponycoupe, can you psot som pics of how the roof is connected to the rest of the body? im going to have to cut the roof off of my car and put a new one on but im trying to finure out how the best way to do it would be. Should i cut my rea quarters off then do it (they're junk) or should i replace the roof then replace the quarter panels?
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Need help understanding the difference in the quater panel skin vs. the full quater panel. So, doing a cut like you have done here would require which???
Rusty bondo bucket for Soaring: Now Painted
